NEWS OF THE DAY.

♦ Canterbury Sale Yards Company, ; LlMliilD.—A meeting of directors of this company was held on Friday last, at the i company's offices, Sir J. C. Wilson in the i chair. Tenders for constructing the yards, were opened, the highest being £1456 19s, and the lowest that of Mr Archibald Johnson, £6£5, which it was resolved should be ■accepted. These yards will accommodate 9000 sheep, 900 cattle and calves, and ample pens for pigs as per plan. Mr Jacobsen, architect to the company, expects that half this work will be finished in about ten j weeks, as the timber is now being rapidly delivered on the land. The company will then be enabled to open the yards for sales. It was proposed and carried that the timber for building the pavilion, stables, kc, should be advertised for. Some routine business having been disposed of, the meeting adjourned, Parish op St. Michael's.—At a meeting of the vestry of the parish of St. Michael's and All Angels, held on Saturday evening, | the following resolution wa* passed :—"That the incumbent be authorised with the concurrence of the Bishop to take the necessary Bteps for procuring a Curate from England at once." Dangerous Locality.—lt would be well if steps were at once taken to repair the footpath leading from Mein'a corner in Colombo street to Hereford street. The asphalte has been worn through in a number of places and the holes are dangerous to pedestrians. Kaiapoi Discussion Class.—A meeting to form a discussion class in connection with the Institute was held on Friday evening. Twenty persons were present, Mr B. Ellis in the chair. A code of rules was adopted. The officers elected were —President, Mr E. G.Kerr; Vice-president, the Rev. R. Bavin ;" hon. secretary, Mr W. Pinching. It was resolved that at the next meeting the President be requested to give an opening address, and that Mr J. Lowthian Wilson open a debate on the question, "Is the common use of tobacco injurious to the human system?" A vote of thanks was passed to the chairman. New Zealand University.—The " Otago Daily Times" says .-—The Rev Dr Stuart, Vice-Chancellor of the Otago University, has kindly placed at our disposal the following telegram from the Rev William Johnstone, in regard to the draft Bill providing for the affiliation of the Otago University and Canterbury College to the University of New Zealand :—" Government approved of the draft Bill, but do not pledge themselves to all the small details. I believe there will be no change except on unimportant things." Commodore Goodenough.—The "United Service Gazette " contains the following:— " We learn that Commodore Goodenough, in command of the Australian station, has accepted a seat in the Executive Council of New Zealand, but that the Admiralty, not being prepared to recognise such an innovation in connection with the duties of an officer commanding a squadron, has requested the übiquitous Commodore to resign his new office." Colonial Spirits. — The ■' Wellington Independent" says :—Prominence is given in the columns of the "New Zealand Herald", of the 17th inst to the following paragraph: —" A rumor was current in town yesterday which we cannot trace to its source, but which, however incredible, is generally beMinisters propose to move in the next session of the Assembly to increase the duty on colonially distilled spirits from 6s to 9s per gallon." This rumor, as we learn on inquiry, does not exactly represent the facts. The intention of the Government is as intimated in communications by Mr M-Kellar, Chief Inspector of Distilleries, to the Dunedin and Auckland Distillery Oompanies, in which; by direction of the Hon. Commissioner of Customs, he informed these companies that the Government propose to bring in a Bill to raise the duty on New Zealand spirits la per gallon on July Ist, 1875 ; la per gallon on July Ist, 1877 ; and Is per gallon on July Ist 1879. - J Population qf Wellington. — The population of the province of Wellington ie 29,654; 16,193 being males and 13,461 females. . Increase Since last census, 5653. , Late News. — From late telegrams forwarded from Ceylon we ("Argus") obtain •the following items of intelligence :—"Lord Pembroke- has been appointed Under Secretary for War. Viscount ,Sydney has been created an earl. Co'onel Wilson Patten ha* been raised to the peerage. Dr Forbes" Winslovs isdead. The ship Walter Raleigh foundered on the 12th February ; the crew.were saved, Concerning" the war in Acheeh, a despatct dated Penang,March9th, says:—'The Acheeneselcontinue to protest emphatically against the treaty of 1857 as a pure fabrication, and challenge _an investigation. They consider England has broken faith. It is currently reported that the] Dutch position is more unfavorable than at"'the commencement of the expedition. The Acheenese assert that several forts inland are strongly fortified with gum supplied from the Kraton, and that the Acheenese policy; is to prolong the struggle, leaving to-existing cholera and sickness tc decimate the enemyy and that the Acheenese hsve no intention of succumbing." —The following summary of Japan news to the in the " New York. Tribune.'?, :—-',' Iwakura, the ; Emperorls Prime Minister, whose assassination was recently attempted, is rapidly recovering from his woundßW .NO positive clue to his assailant has .been discovered, though several arrests have been made. The official census of 1872, just published, fixes the entire population at 3H, 110,825. Men and women are about equal in 'numbers. The position of the German Minister, Herr yon Brandt, in his dispute with the Japanese Government, is <understood to.be that, inasmuch as existing treaties exclude all foreigners from , the intericm of > .the empire, the Japanese; have already .violated, it by introducing; ioreign, teachera,,- &C, for the instruction o£ - L their youth,;.the development of their mineral resources, and other kindred purposes. On 4bis 'ground he proposes tc resist exclusion of any. of his countrymen who choose to travel beyond- the prescribed limits, either, for pleasure t; or trade. ; The native authorities are firm in their resistance . to what they,. call;-a monstrous assumption.. The memorandum of the Japanese Foreign Office ,'to' the European representatives mentioned in the despatch oi December 23rd, refuting .the arguments in favor of the extension of the ex-territoriality throughout Japan, has received a rejoinder, in which the former pleas are are reiterated. The matter'of proposals is no less objectionable than before! although the manner is lesff: ; cnTensiye: ■, It ia noteworthy,that this iocument is not signed' by thei United .States Mfriis'ter: 'A~ second answer by the''Japanese a equally firm,in its rejection pi -the denands. ;This correspondence is probably low terminated, though further verbal dissussion will be allowed. The "first cbmmunilatiori, took' place last autumn, when inercourse and trade were solicited subject to i scheme of internal jurisdiction laid down ly the foreign Ministers, and to be executed yconsular authority. In their last "reply, he Japanese refuse to entertain any pjro■osals relative to the opening of their country xcept by means of an entire revision of the reaties, previous-to which they will Require he credentials authorising the Mini*tero to ct ia so important a matter," ' :i •*■ - a J .'•'777;* x'JLlc 7 77L7CU>.ia" .1

Gbano Naval Spectacles.—The "New York Herald" gives the following from its correspondent, who witnessed the torpedo practice at Florida Bay :—" A raft 20ft by. 10ft, constructed of heavy planks, was towed by the Fortune to a position one mile ahead of the fleet. At one o'clock all the vessels | got under way, and forming, into "columns, steamed away towards this 'raft, id the following order:—The Wabash first, then the Congress, Ticonderaga, Canandaigua, Ossipee, Colerado, Brooklyn, Wachusett, Kansas, Lancaster, Alaskar, Shenandoah, Franklin, and lastly the Fortune. Each vessel carried a 1001b torpedo, rigged out oh the starboard side o.i a 50ft spar. The Wabash carried three, and the Brooklyn two. All were to be fired by electricity. Fourteen out of the seventeen torpedoes were successfully exploded. The spectacle was very grand. In many instances a solid column of water was "thrown twice the height of the mainmast. The best execution was done by the Colerado, Wachusett, and Shenandoah. The Fortune's torpedo was carried away by her speed before the explosion occurred. The shock on shipboard was something terrible. Commander Parker declares that to-day's experiments have demonstrated the impropriety of applying torpedoes to large war vessels incapable of great speed." The British Empire. -— The " Argus' says :—The Imperial census for 1871 differed from every previous enumeration in that it embraced the entire empire within its comprehensive returns Her Majesty the Queen rules over 234,000,000 of people, or twice as many as were governed by the Emperor Claudius. Her subject realms comprise an area of 7,769,449 square miles, or rather more than one-fifth of the dry land upon the globe. These liegemen of a British sovereign inhabit 44,142,651 houses or other dwellings ; and London, the capital of this enormous empire, has a population of 3,800,000, which exceeds that of the whole of England at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and is in excess of that of either Holland or Switzerland at the present moment; while it is considerably more than double the population of either Norway, Wirtemberg, Denmark, Baden, pr Greece. With respect to the occupations of the people of England, it appears that the professional class is computed to comprise 680,000 persons ; the agricultural, 1,600,000 j the domestic or helpful, 5,000,000 ; the industrial, 5,137,000; and the indefinite and non-productive class, 168,000 ; while the children mount up to 7,500,000. The North American possessions of the Crown cover an area of 3,376,025 square miles, with a total population of 3,789,670 ; the African settlements comprehend 236,860 square miles, inhabited by 1,813,450 persona; India, with an area of 938,366 square miles, is densely populated by 191,307,070 "souls;" and the Australian colonies, with a territory of 2,851,000 square miles, not including New Zealand, are peopled by 1,668,721 inhabitants, Considerably more than two-thirds of Her Majesty's subjects are Mahomedans, Hindoos; Buddhists, and members of correlative faiths; and the other third presents the most amazing diversity of beliefs which it would be possible to conceive. As illustrative of a growing fear of the responsibilities of marriage in the mother country, it is mentioned by the Imperial registrargeneral that 69 out of every 100 men in England between the ages of 25 and 30 are found to be unmarried, and that what is called the "reserve" of unmarried women in that country between the ages of 15 and 21 is Bet down at 1,246,000 ; while the females in England and Wales out. numb-T the males by 450,<*00. As many as 41 males and 114 females were returned as being over 100 years of age. The result of the survey is thus summed up in the report which has just been made public :—" The Empire possesses 7,769,449 square miles of territory; the United Kingdom, 121,608 square miles; the colonies, 6,685,021 ; India and Ceylon, 962,820. -There are 38 persons to a square mile in the Empire, 260 in the United Kingdom, 201 in India, and 1.41 in the colonies." Immigrants per Rakaia.—lt is notified in another column that the- immigrants per Rakaia may be-engaged at the immigration depot on Wednesday next from 10.30 a.m., according to priority of application. "Ftjnebai/ Sermon.—The Rev Mr Buller preached a funeral sermon in connection with the death of the late Mr Whincop, at the Durham street Church, last evening. The Rev preacher took his text from Genesis 48-21, and after delivering a most impressive sermon, gave a short review of the life of the deceased gentleman while in Canterbury. The church was densely crowded. Christohuror Citt Guards. — This Company will parade to-morrow evening at the drill shed at seven p.m, for inspection by the officer commanding the district. Every member is expected to be present. Narrow Escape prom Fire. — After housing the engines which had been turned out qn Saturday evening for the false alarm in the triangle, some members of, the Fire Brigade while passing through Cathedral square were informed by a lady that the upper portion of De Bourbel's buildings had been on fire. On proceeding there they found one of the up stair bedrooms full bf smoke, caused by some bedding which had been ablaze, but fortunately put out before any very serionsdamage was done. A palliasse mattress, blankets, &c, were then removed by the members of the Brigade to the yard, and all signs of fire Boon extinguished. It seems that a candle had been laid on a box which occupied a space between the „ two bedsteads, and had been placed too near;the wall, and j the paper and canvas having taken fire, it ' ran along until it caught the valence of one of the beds, and burst into\ a flame. The alarm was given by the servant, and twe : men who were.on the premises rushed upstairs, and though nearly suffocated with smoke,' battled with the flame ' until thej subdued it. It is fortunate indeed the fire was so .quickly seen ;,however, as it has turned out, with, the: exception, of the bedding, paper, and canvas, no other damage 'was.BusWh.ea., y ri iyy $££;•. False Alarm op FißE,~About aquartei past seven on Saturday evening last a' boy employed at the Uncle ; Tom's- boarding house in the triangle rushed out into High street crying fire. A crowd .quickly assembled and in a few moments; afterwards the Lichfield street and Marketplace! bells rang pat; Mr Superintendent Harris was on the scene before the alarm had been given at the station ,<and found that a quantity of fat placed in an oven connected with the kitchen range, had by some .means taken fire, and on the: boy < opening' ithe oven door the flame burst out, J and he imagining the house to be on fire rushed into the street. The flame was quickly smothered but not before:the hand engine Dreadnought had arrived; accompanied by, a number of the fire brigade. | Mr Harris at once took measures, to prevent [ the engines' beiug turned out, but before he could j reach;.,the* station all the plant was en route for the fire,.which circumstance alone speaks volumes for the. alacrity displayed by the bri jade in turningpat. The fire, police under Captain Mitchell and a body of the constabulary were also present. ~ A Goon Example,—A late English paper says :—On Saturday afternoon, after enter-) tain ing about seventy of-his employes, M. Allcro|tßj£6f,; tSe fipn Co*f gTenerousr/ prefentefl Wem cheques varying from £50 to £260, accprding to the fength of service. To those who hadbeen with him-twenty-five years he presented a cheque for £250;-twenty years, £200 j fifteen n^nj,:(*l6o; ten'ZetaxymOO; %nd{ five years, £§0. ... \ Arrivals.—Mr Ruddenklau and the Rev; Mr Lohr, minister for the German Church, are passengers in the'Rakaia, which vesselarrived,in port yesterday evening, i Injector Render.—-^"e; hear' that; steps, are being taken to convene a meeting- to' make- arrangements for., presenting Mr Inspector Pender, with a substantial recognition of Jiir he has' been this district;.' a " 2 -~ It is understood that Mi* Ilenry R. Taylor of ManchesJ^K4«jMgM ( |?npon;>The Life and Times of Lord Byron. The volume; which is to be dedicated to the Princess will; contain njewuaitd authen.; Soinformatioa on.«the Byroa coataoTem'*; i.iK.ri r lirjt.: ■;..•, '.>';-M~ 7T.; "? V ; ;; - '"•• >!■ ' j ;I '- . . '- . »,* * ', \